
Title 



i .,s^ 






Imprint. 



Book 



ADVANCE SHEETS 



UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

CHAPTER FROM THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 
For 1910 



Chapter XV 



Education in Ireland 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT TRINTING OFFICE 
1910 



61 



CHAPTER XV. 
EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 

By Cloudesley Brereton, M. A., L-^-Ls. 
Formerly temporary inspector to the intermediate board. 



Ireland, 32,360 square miles; population (estimated, 1908), 4,363,351. 



Topical Outline. Elementary education.— Secondary and technical education: Secondary; technical. — 

Universities. 



Table 1. — Summary of current educational statistics of Ireland. 

[The information in this table relating to universities is taken from the Statesman's Yearbook, 1910, and 
from current calendars of the institutions. The remaining statistics have been compiled from the reports 
of the commissioners of national education.] 



Universities and colleges: 

Dublin University 

National University of Ireland" 

University College, Dublin 

University College, Cork a 

University College, Galway a 

Queen's University, Belfast « 

Elementary day schools 

Training schools for elementary teachers 

a Formerly Queen's College 



Date 

of 
report. 



Registered 

students or 

pupils. 



Elementary. 



In Ireland, according to Mr. Graham Balfour, the problem of public 
education at the beginning of the nineteenth century ''seemed almost 
hopeless." The principal adverse factors were differences of race 
and of religion between the governed and the governing classes, 
absence of trade and industry to provide an outlet for the surplus 
population, and widespread poverty. It was only in 1781 and 1792 
that the penal statutes of William and Ann had been repealed which 
forebade Catholics either to teach in Ireland or send their children 
abroad to be taught. In fact up to the end of the eighteenth century 
the majority of schools were founded, apart from the ideal of the 

551 



552 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910, 

advancement of learning, for the sake of propagating the religion 
and language of the dominant race. In 1824 what elementary edu- 
cation there was in the country may be summarized as follows : First, 
there were the lay societies (mostly Protestant) who had taken under 
their control many of the parish schools founded under an act of 
Henry VIII. The chief of these, the Kjldare Societ}^, had on its 
books at that date 59,208 pupils out of a total of 106,012 for all the 
societies. Then there were the Catholic schools with 46,119, the pri- 
vate and other schools with 13,686 pupils, and, lastly, there were no 
less than 394,732 scholars in the so-called "pay" schools, which were 
mainly the old CathoHc "Hedge schools" where under the old penal 
laws — 

Stil) crouching 'neath the sheltering hedge or stretched on mountain fern, 
The teacher and his pupils met feloniously to learn. 

The Kildare Place Society mentioned above owed its initial suc- 
cess to the fact that it was composed of persons of various denomi- 
nations, with the professed object of supporting schools of an unde- 
nominational character, but the reading of the Scriptures without 
note or comment was insisted on in all its schools, and this ultimately 
rendered it unacceptable to the Catholics, while the state grants, 
which were its main support, were withdrawn in 1832. In 1829 
the Catholic emancipation act, relieving Catholics of nearly all 
their disabilities, became law, and in the previous year a select 
committee of the House of Commons had reported in favor of a 
general scheme of combined literary and separate religious educa- 
tion, which, in the words of the chief secretary for Ireland, "should 
be capable of being adapted to the views of the religious persuasions 
which prevail in Ireland as to render it in truth a system of national 
education." It is only fair to add that the real, though unacknowl- 
edged, author of this scheme was the famous educationist, ]\Ir. 
(afterwards Sir) Thomas Wyse. 

In 1831 steps were taken to give effect to this policy, which was 
strongly supported by D. O'Connell, "the liberator," and the Roman 
Catholic hierarchy. The central control was placed in the hands 
of a board of commissioners of national education, composed of 
Priotestants and Roman Catholics of high personal character. The 
commissioners originally numbered 7; subsequently their number 
was increased, and in 1860 it was limited to 20, 10 of whom were to 
be Protestants and 10 Roman Catholics. A paid commissioner was 
added to the board shortly after its foundation under the title of 
resident commissioner. The principal functions of the board were 
to have complete control of the schools, to make grants, provided 
local contributions were forthcoming, to require the schools to be 
kept open for a certain number of hours for combined moral and 
literary education, while making provision on one or two days for 



EDUCATION IN IKELAND. 553 

separate religious instruction, to exercise control over all school books 
in use, to allow the local patron (generally a clergyman) or man- 
agers to appoint the teachers, subject to the board regulations, which 
did not, however, allow of a right of appeal to the board in case of 
dismissal, and, finally, to inspect the schools. 

The religious difficulty was not long in showing itself. The Prot- 
estants and the Presbyterians objected to the exclusion of the Bible 
in school hours. On the other hand, the rules were not rigorously 
applied in all districts, and the Catholics, fearing proselytism, held 
aloof. In 1834 there were only 789 schools, with 107,042 children, 
under the board. But in 1866, after some thirty years of trial and 
experiment, the religious difficulty was settled by reverting to the 
original rule that no child should be allowed to remain for the 
religious instruction of a denomination other than its own unless the 
parent has requested it in writing, while the religious instruction has 
to be so fixed that no child shall be excluded indirectly or directly 
from the general advantages of the school. 

The principal religious societies which remained outside the control 
of the board were the Church Education Society and the Clu-istian 
Brothers. The Church Education Society was a Church of Ireland 
body. It flourished for many years, and in 1867 it had no less than 
1,451 schools and 63,549 scholars; but after the disestablishment 
of the Church of Ireland its numbers greatly declined, and in 1891 
it had only 260 schools and 6,494 pupils. 

The Christian Brothers was a ''congregation" founded in 1802 in 
Waterford by Mr. Edmond Rice for the education of poor Catholic 
boys. It was based to a certain extent on the model of the Christian 
Brothers of de la Salle in France. The members take the vows of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience, and also a vow to teach children 
gratuitously. It grew rapidly. 1x1-1863 it had in Ireland 171 schools 
of different kinds which were educating some 19,380 cliildren. In 
1891 the figures were 130 schools and 21,382 pupils. In many of 
these schools they are doing work of a higher literary or ''voca- 
tional" kind, as will be described later. The Christian Brothers 
have also extended their activities to England and the colonies. As 
an agency of true democratic education they have performed to a 
remarkable extent the function of giving many of the brighter boys 
of the nation the chance of rising in life. In 1903 they were edu- 
cating some 27,000 elementary children and 3,000 intermediate. 

A select committee under ^Ir. Wyse as chairman, winch reported 
to the House of Commons in 1838, may be mentioned here as antici- 
pating many reforms, some of winch have since been adopted. A 
great feature was made of object lessons. Manual and physical 
training were recommended, as well as agricultural teacliing. Sing- 
ing and drawing were strongly advocated. The creation of local 
education authorities with power to strike a rate was also proposed. 



554 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

The board has founded in all some 32 model schools to promote 
"united education," to act as schools of experiment and example, 
and to train teachers. These schools have failed, unfortunately, to 
secure the full confidence of the Roman Catholics. In spite of this 
and other drawbacks the number of schools under the board steadily- 
increased. In 1865-69 they numbered 6,586, with an average 
attendance of 354,853 pupils. A royal commission under Lord 
Powis was appointed in 1868. Its report in nine volumes was pub- 
lished in 1870, and many of its chief recommendations have since 
been adopted. The comparatively low state of education is shown 
by the statement, "We know very well that 45 per cent of the attend- 
ance in the national schools are in the first book." 

The state of things in 1871 is thus described by Doctor Starkie: 
"A very large proportion of the schools were wretched thatched 
cabins, badly lighted, badly and inadequately furnished, and kept 
in bad repair. * * * The attendance was a negligible quantity. 
Pupils strolled into school all day and left without any excuse. The 
rolls were not called until a fair muster was made at 12 o'clock or 
later. In 1871 there were 1,000,000 children on the rolls, and the 
average attendance was 350,000 — exactly 35 per cent. In some 
counties the attendance was below 20 per cent — for instance, in 
Mayo, 11.9. * * * In 1871 only 7.9 were in the senior classes. 
* * * In Mayo only 15 were in the highest class out of a popu- 
lation of 250,000." These figures are highly significant in the light 
of subsequent progress. 

Teachers' salaries in 1841 ranged from £20 to £12 for males, £15 
to £10 for females, special methods being adopted for the payment 
of teachers belonging to religious bodies. Payment by results was 
introduced in a modified form in 1871. According to competent 
witnesses, it produced a beneficial effect at the time in the way of 
leveling up the teaching, but it reproduced here, as elsewhere, the 
same injurious effect of making the teaching mechanical, and in 
1900 the system was abolished. In 1875 two important acts affect- 
ing teacliers were passed. One was an attempt to induce local 
authorities to raise money for education by offering additional 
treasury grants. Of the boards of guardians interested, not more 
than 73 out of 163 ever took up the matter. This number sank in 
1897 to 25, and in 1900, on the abolition of payment by result, this 
source of contribution ceased. The total amount from local sources 
of all kinds only amounts to about 6 per cent. The other important 
act of 1875 afforded to a certain extent fmancial facilities for provid- 
ing residences for teachers — a long-felt want. This act was followed 
by a similar one in 1879, which also contained provisions for teach- 
ers' pensions, a sum of £1,300,000 of the funds of the disestablished 
church being set aside for that purpose. 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 555 

The deficit in trained teachers in Ireland was brought out by the 
statistics of 1883, wliich showed that only 52 per cent, or 1,412 out 
of 2,714 Protestant teachers, and 27 per cent, or 2,142 out of 7,907 
Roman Catholic teachers, were trained. The schools also were 
much understaffed. England at that time had tlu-ee times and 
Scotland nearly six times as many teachers in proportion as Ireland. 
The revelation of this disparity led to the creation or recognition of 
a certain number of voluntary training colleges in addition to the 
board's own college in Marlborough street, Dublin. Government 
help was given to such colleges up to 75 per cent of their annual 
expenditure. As a result of these reforms the number of teachers 
who had received one or two years' training rose to 53 per cent in 
1901. 

Compulsory education for Ireland was proposed by the House of 
Commons in 1883. It was not till 1892, however, that education, 
which had previously been made free in Scotland and England, was 
rendered gratuitous in Ireland, and an attempt was made to set up 
compulsory attendance in the town and townships. The discretion 
of extending it to the counties was given to the county councils, 
which were created in 1898. Owing to financial difficulties the 
principle was adopted slowly, even in the towns. In 1901 only 83 
out of 120 townships had adopted the requisite machinery, and 43 
rural districts. Taking these districts together, the total attendance 
after a few years showed an excess of 5 per cent over the rest of 
Ireland, the improvement being most marked in rural districts. 

At the outset the board was very anxious to encourage industrial 
and agricultural training. The efforts at industrial education did 
not produce any permanent results. In agriculture they were more 
fortunate. In 1837 two agricultural schools were established, and 
in 1838 a model farm and garden were opened at Glasnevin. Subse- 
quently the commissioners began to lease and manage farms. 
These in 1875 numbered no less than 228. Agriculture was made 
an obligatory subject. Unfortunately it was largely theoretical, and 
its value may be gauged by the statement that the highest marks 
were earned, according to Doctor Starkie, by the town ''gamins" 
of Belfast. By 1900 all the farms belonging to the commissioners 
had been given up with the exception of Glasnevin and another, 
which were taken over by the agricultural and technical department, 
whose duties were twofold, one to encourage agriculture and indus- 
try and the other to encourage scientific and technical instruction in 
the schools. The work of the department, wliich is mostly con- 
cerned with higher and technical education, will be described later. 

In 1898 a vice-regal commission, called the Belmore commission, 
reported in favor of a more practical education being introduced 
into the schools, thereby confirming many of the recommendations 



556 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

of the Wyse committee fifty years before, involving an extension of 
the kindergarten for infants and of woodwork and hand and eye 
training for the older children. Drawing (taken by only 31 per cent 
of the children) and singing were to be made compulsory; the book- 
ish agriculture was to be replaced by elementary science. The 
general verdict of the commission was that while it fitted boys to 
enter the secondary schools (intermediate), it left them "not fit to 
enter a technical school, even if they had such a school at their 
doors." Two years later a body of organizers for instructing and 
advising teachers was created, and the teaching is every year becom- 
ing more and more practical in the schools. Classes also for train- 
ing national teachers in science and art are carried on by the agri- 
cultural and technical education department in the technical schools, 
such classes being under the joint inspection of the national board 
and of the department. 

The beginning of the twentieth century showed a revived public 
interest in Irish education, elementary as well as university. The 
whole system was fiercely attacked by Mr. Macarthy in his "Priests 
and People," and by Mr, Hugh O'Donnell in his * 'Ruin of Irish Educa- 
tion." A certain number of outspoken criticisms were also made by 
Doctor Starkie, the resident commissioner, speaking in his private 
capacity at the meeting of the British Association in Belfast in 
September, 1902. Doctor Starkie pointed out that while the revised 
scheme for teachers' salaries might be expected to do much for 
improving education, the absence of a strong pubHc opinion in 
favor of education was a marked feature in Ireland. He also 
brought out the comparative lack of effective compulsion, attendance 
in Ireland being only 63 per cent as against 82.4 in England and 82.9 
in Scotland. Even the worst Welsh County, Anglesey, had a better 
average (73.3) than the best Irish county. He dilated on the 
defective state of the schoolhouses (1,100 described ''as scarcely 
habitable"). He criticised the comparative indifference of the 
managers, whether Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, or Catholic, 
and alluded to, but did not advocate, the ie^^^ng of local rates for 
education as a means of enlisting and interesting local pubhc opinion. 

The parties concerned were not long in composing their replies^ 
and a vigorous pamplilet was pubhshed by Rev. M. O'Riordan. 
The latter was also intended to answer certain criticisms on clerical 
influences in Sir Horace Plunkett's "Ireland in the New Century." 
Other brochures of a similar kind were issued by the Rev. J. Malone, 
P. P. ("Irish Education"), and the Rev. M. Curry. 

In the midst of this turmoil of controversy one point seems pretty 
clear — that if the clerical managers had not always shown all the 
zeal they might, they were after all the main persons in the country 
to show any zeal at all, as far as elementary education was concerned. 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 557 

In 1904 Mr. F. H. Dale, an inspector in the English board of educa- 
tion, was deputed by the lord lieutenant "to inquire and report how 
typical Irish elementary day schools compare with similarly circum- 
stanced pubUc elementary schools in England as regards premises, 
equipment, staffing, and instruction; and to what causes differences 
in economy and efficiency appear to be due." He reported that 
the Irish school buildings in towns were "markedly inferior" to 
English of a similar type, and proposed as a remedy the creation 
of local bodies with rating powers for education. On the other 
hand, he stated that the majority of country school buildings did 
not compare unfavorably with the corresponding English ones. 
The equipment was "tolerably satisfactory," but except in the 
convent schools the Irish schools were very deficient in attractive- 
ness of appearance and equipment other than in necessaries. Mr, 
Dale noted that "a much larger proportion" of Irish teachers were 
trained than English, "a circumstance that creates a strong 
presumption of greater efficiency." The difference in salaries for 
head teachers on the whole was, ceteris paribus, not remarkable, 
while many head mistresses were even better paid than their English 
colleagues. The salaries of assistants was "distinctly lower," but 
their chances of promotion to headships were greater. Mr. Dale 
further pointed out the unnecessary multipUcation of small separate 
schools, which had steadily increased, though the population was 
diminishing. "The primary cause has been the preference for a 
strictly denominational system of education. The object of the 
national school system in Ireland has therefore not been achieved." 
Less strict control on the part of the central authority than exists 
in England over the supply and organization of schools was also 
given as a contributory reason. Mr. Dale likewise indicated that 
little or no local interest was shown except by the clergy. The con- 
vent schools were singled out as at once the least expensive and 
among the most efficient and best-managed schools. Other points 
of criticism were the inadequacy and faulty distribution of the staff, 
especially in the small schools of 40 to 59 pupils ; the irregularity of 
attendance, which in several schools might be improved by the 
conveyance of the children in covered carts; the inferiority of the 
discipline and of the methods and aims of instruction. The subjects 
recently introduced into the code were pronounced a success with 
the exception of the hand and eye training. 

The board at once took cognizance of Mr. Dale's report, and in 
their annual report for 1903 published some very remarkable statis- 
tics of progress during the last century. In 1851 (twenty years 
after the foundation of the board) the illiterates over 5 years old 
numbered 47 per cent of the population. In 1901 they had sunk 
to 14 per cent. In 1871 of the children between 10 to 15 only 59 



558 EDUCATION REPORT^ 1910. 

per cent could read and write; in 1901 the percentage had risen to 
94 per cent. They further pointed out that the percentage of trained 
teachers, 57 per cent, was much higher than that for England and 
Wales. 

Certain of Mr. Dale's recommendations were adopted by the 
board within a year or two of his report, notably in respect to dimin- 
ishing the excessive number of small schools, to increasing the 
salaries of assistants, and making an addition to the staff in the shape 
of a manual instructress in small schools with an average of 35 to 49. 

The rebuilding and remodeling of unsuitable buildings had long 
been occupying the serious attention of the board. But for several 
years after 1901 the preparation of new plans hung fire and delay 
was no doubt also caused by the uncertainty of the political situation. 
There was, in consequence, an accumulation of arrears in the way of 
urgent cases. In 1907 an Irish council bill was brought in by the 
Government. As far as education was concerned, the national board 
and the intermediate board, which looks after secondary education, 
were to be replaced by an educational department or committee 
under the control of the council and organized by it, additional 
members (not excluding women) to be added by the lord lieutenant. 
The bill was, however, withdrawn, and subsequently no attempt has 
been made to coordinate Irish education. One great difficulty of the 
board was the absence of any local rate or aid toward the cost of 
education. It has, however, been pointed out that apart from the 
very large number of children educated free by the Christian Brothers 
the whole upkeep of the schools, occasionally part of the teacher's 
salary, and half the rent of the teacher's residence, are provided 
locally. The latter half is usually, however, paid by the teacher, 
but in about 5 per cent of the schools the teacher's residence is 
provided entirely locally. In 1907 a fixed sum was given by the 
English treasury of £40,000 for three years in order to assist the 
commissioners in making building grants. Certain sums from the 
development grants were also provided which did not, however, 
materialize, and judging from the most recent report much still 
reijaains to be done. In 1908 a parliamentary grant of £114,000 
was made to improve teachers' salaries. The principle has also been 
adopted of providing covered carts for the conveyance of children 
living at a distance. 

Special training in horticulture has been arranged for in conjunc- 
tion with the department of agriculture and technical instruction, 
but the necessary funds for carrying it out are still lacking. The 
study of Irish has been fostered with striking results. There were 
105 schools taking the subject in 1899; in 1901 the number was 
1,198. At the end of December, 1906, the schools numbered 2,072, 
with 161,740 pupils. In 1908 the number of schools had risen to 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 559 

3,047. During the same period the bilingual schools rose from 36 to 
168. The number of children taking Irish was 195,801. According 
to a recent report by Mr. D. Mangan to the board, the standard of 
attainment is rather uneven, but much good work is being done. 

The schools themselves are becoming more and more denomina- 
tional in practice. In 1883 the percentage of schools containing 
both Roman Cathohcs and Protestants numbered 53.8 of the whole 
number. The percentage has progressively decUned, and at the 
end of each quinquennium the percentages were successively 48.4, 
45.5, 38.1, 33.1, 30.4, the latter being the figure for 1908. This 
means, in other words, that more than two-thirds of the children are 
in schools where the pupils are either exclusively Protestant or 
exclusively Catholic. This of course is the real cause of the number 
of small schools. In 1908 out of 8,336 there were 5 with less than 10 
on the rolls; 196 with less than 15; 253 with less than 20; 677 with 
less than 25; and 699 with less than 30; thus, 1,830, or 22 per cent of 
the whole, have under 30 pupils. 

The percentage of average attendance for 1908 is noteworthy as 
being the highest on record, amounting to 71.1. The total percentage 
of trained teachers is 64.7. 

It would seem that the controversies that arose at the opening of 
the twentieth century have largely quieted down, not, however, 
without leading to a substantial increase in efiiciency in the ways 
mentioned above, though much still remains to be done in the way 
of improving the school buildings and raising the standard of attend- 
ance to a higher level. The chief outstanding problems would appear 
to be better pensions for teachers, further amalgamation of small 
schools, the establishment of higher grade schools for continuative 
education, provision of school gardens and improvements in cleaning 
and heating in the schools, in the cost of which the local managers 
now appear to be wilHng to share. 

Secondary and Technical Education. 

secondary. 

During the four centuries after the death of St. Patrick, Ireland 
became one of the chief centers of European culture, and was known 
as "insula sanctorum et doctorum." To give only one or two instances, 
the great college of Mayo, caUed Mayo of the Saxons, contained no 
less than 2,000 English students, while Romans, Gauls, Germans, and 
even Egyptians were to be found among the pupils of the ancient Irish 
schools. The repeated incursions of the Northmen wrought havoc 
with the country and its schools, and the Anglo-Norman conquest, 
which extended over four centuries, completed their ruin. It was not 
till the reign of Elizabeth and James I that efforts were made to pro- 



560 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

vide for Irish education by the foundation of the so-called dioc- 
esan free schools, which quickly became schools of a classical and 
grammar-school type, and of the royal free schools which were mainly 
established within the Ulster "plantation." Although intended to be 
free to all denominations, these schools were practically attended by 
Protestants alone, owing to their Protestant "atmosphere." A few 
more grammar schools were founded during the seventeenth century 
by private persons, notably the Earl of Cork and Erasmus Smith, an 
alderman of I^ondon. The penal statutes of William III (1631) and 
of Anne (1692) entirely deprived the mass of Catholic population of 
all education. Henceforth parents were condemned to send their 
children abroad secretly to school or have them educated equally 
surreptitiously at home. 

A commission that reported in 1791 found there were 46 grammar 
schools with 1,214 pupils and an income from endowment of £7,600. 
Commissioners of charitable donations and bequests were appointed 
in 1800 to look after charitable endowments. In 1858 they managed 
an income of £2,461, mainly applicable to education. More import- 
ant were the board of commissioners of education in Ireland, who were 
appointed in 1813 to look after all the endowed schools with certain 
definite exceptions. They do not seem to have had a very successful 
record in the management either of the estates or of the schools. A 
select committee, who sat from 1835 to 1838, with Mr. Wyse as chair- 
man, drew up a scheme for secondary education as comprehensive as 
that they proposed for elementary education (see Elementary). 
There was to be in every county an academy or provincial college 
and in each of the four provinces an agricultural college. The types 
of education were not only to be classical, but commercial and scien- 
tific. Local education rates were recommended, and the creation of 
a chair of education at the university advocated. 

The Ursuline nuns were permitted to establish themselves in 
Ireland in 1771. In 1821 the Loretto nuns, a teaching community, 
founded their first Irish branch. The foundation of the Christian 
Brothers was at an earlier date (see Elementary), but for many years 
their work was almost entirely elementary. Later on the}^ went in 
largely for higher education and in 1903 they were educating a third 
of the boys in secondary education. 

The Kildare commission, reporting in 1858 on the endowed schools, 
found there were 52 endowed grammar schools and 2 superior- 
English schools with an income of £15,452. At the same time they 
pointed out there were no less than 91 towTis with a population of over 
2,000 each which had no public secondary schools. The Rosse com- 
mission, appointed in 1878 and reporting in 1880, drew special atten- 
tion to the lack of what we should call to-day "vocational" education. 
They reported that there were 700 endowed schools, of which 300 were 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 561 

under the commissioners for elementary education. The total 
endowments amounted to £85,000, but of this only £8,000 was in 
Munster and £891 in Connaught. In 1885 the education endowment 
act was passed which allowed the endowed schools to be reorganized 
and their endowments as far as possible to be extended to the benefit 
of both sexes, while the board of commissioners of education was 
reformed and reconstructed. 

In the same year as the Rosse commission was appointed a new 
body was called into existence to provide for the state organization 
of secondary education. The need especially from the Catholic point 
of view was particularly urgent. While out of every 100,000 people 
in Scotland 371 were receiving a secondary education, in Ireland out of 
similar numbers of Protestants and Catholics, respectively, there were 
199 Protestants and only 2 Catholics. To remedy this glaring defi- 
ciency, the intermediate education act was passed. The administra- 
tion of the act was entrusted to a board composed of representatives of 
different denominations. Its functions were to carry on a system of 
public examinations, to grant prizes, exhibitions, and certificates, and 
to pay managers of schools fees dependent on the results of its public 
examinations. 

As regards income, the board were allotted £1,000,000 out of the 
funds of the disestablished church, the income of which amounted to 
£32,000, though it subsequently sank to £27,000. The local taxation 
act of 1890, which assigned £78,000 to the national board, handed over 
the available residue, some £50,000 a year, to the intermediate board. 
The intermediate board was successful from the outset as regards the 
number who took the examinations, but criticisms were not long in 
making themselves felt, as was only likely in a system based on pay- 
ment by results. The board themselves finally recognized "there 
were grave defects in the system," and on their own petition they were 
constituted in 1898 into a vice-regal commission to inquire into and 
report on the S3^stem and its working. Judging by the evidence, 
among the main evils alleged against the system were the excessive 
competition and cramming it engendered. It was further declared 
to make the teaching mechanical, to discourage preparation for a,ll 
other t3''pes of continuative education other than university, and to 
tempt the teacher to concentrate on the clever pupils to the neglect 
of the rest. It was said to lead to overwork and physical overstrain. 
It was accused of producing a neglect of voluntary subjects and a 
direct discouragement of oral teaching in modern languages and of the 
practical teaching of science. It was stated that not half the inter- 
mediate pupils were presented for the examinations and not a third 
passed them. Many witnesses declared that it encouraged ''tout- 
ing" for distinguished pupils and actually led to bargaining between 
parents and teachers. 

59041°— ED 1910— VOL 1 36 



562 EDUCATION KEPOET, 1910. 

On the other hand its administration was ' ' universally " admitted to 
be impartial. The examinations had proved their value as an 
independent and authoritative test of the work of the schools. It 
had enabled poor pupils of ability to get a better education, stimu- 
lated the work of the teachers, and given a great impulse to educational 
work in general. This was especially clear from the statistics of the 
number of Catholics receiving secondary education before and twenty 
years after the establishment of the examination. And finally the 
system was said to have stimulated parental interest, helped to 
raise the status and salaries of teachers, and given an enormous 
impetus to the education of girls. 

The board reported in 1899 and said that without legislation they 
were powerless to carry out their recommendations. Next year 
Parliament by the intermediate education act gave them the neces- 
sary liberty to draw up their own rules subject to the approval of the 
lord lieutenant and Parliament, and power was given to appoint 
inspectors, which in the opinion of the board and of the great 
majority of witnesses before the commission was necessary to sup- 
plement examination, inspection being taken in the opinion of the 
board to include the sanitary conditions of the school, reasonableness 
of school hours, and proper provision when practical science was 
taught. 

New regulations were issued in 1902, and candidates are able to 
take, in three out of the four grades, either honors or pass papers. 
No one is eligible under 13 or over 19, and the first or preparatory 
grade is only open to pupils under 15. An intermediate roll has to 
be sent in by each head master containing the names of all pupils 
eligible by age to compete. The examination was divided into two 
courses in 1902. They have since been expanded into five — the 
classical, modern literary I (French or German, with Irish), modem 
literary II (French and German), mathematics, and experimental 
science. English and mathematics are compulsory in all courses, 
and other subjects have to be chosen by the candidates. 

In 1901 six temporary inspectors were appointed. Extracts from 
their reports were published in 1902. They criticised the too exclu- 
sive preparation made by the schools for the examination, the imper- 
fect grading of the pupils, and the excessive number of schools in the 
same districts. They commented on the excellence of the discipline 
and the high conscientiousness of the teachers, but they spoke unfa- 
vorably of the slowness of the teaching and the inaudibility of the 
pupils. The English teaching, in spite of sundry criticisms, was 
praised for arousing interest. The history and geography were 
apparently taught on rather old-fashioned lines. The Latin and 
Greek were pronounced to be good in the larger schools, but less sat- 
isfactory in the smaller. In modern languages the work in grammar, 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 563 

translation, and composition was commended, but the colloquial side, 
for which no allowance was made in the examination, was naturally- 
disappointing. In respect to mathematics and experimental science 
the inspectors stated ''We can speak highly of the labor, patience, 
and care that have been bestowed on these subjects in the great 
majority of schools." The deficiency in competent science teachers 
was noted and the need of special supervision in that branch of the 
school work. 

Next year the experiment of sending out inspectors was renewed. 
Meanwhile the results of their work were so satisfactory that the 
board unanimously were of the opinion that ''inspection should be 
at once organized on a permanent footing," but owing to the uncer- 
tainty of the political situation nothing was done. To insure stand- 
ardization of the examination from year to year eight permanent 
examiners were appointed. 

The backwardness of science teaching in Ireland, alluded to above, 
is due to the somewhat checkered career that the teaching of the 
subject had previously experienced in Ireland. From the outset 
Ireland shared in the bounty of the science and art department on 
the same lines as Great Britain. In 1852 out of 20 art schools in the 
kingdom Ireland had 2. In 1860 out of 87 subsidized schools Ire- 
land had 8. In 1868 these schools had risen in number to 76, as 
against 16 in Scotland. The high- water mark was reached during 
the years 1887-1890. In 1889 the number of schools receiving 
grants was 342 and the total grant £8,836, or more than one-eleventh 
of the whole grant for the Kingdom. It then fell away, until in 1897 
it only amounted to £2,500 out of £172,000, or about one-seventieth 
of the whole grant, the reason being that while South Kensington grad- 
ually ceased to subsidize national and night schools, the rules of the 
intermediate board hindered the schools in working for the science and 
art department. In 1899 the English science and art department was 
replaced by act of Parliament by a department of agriculture and 
technical instruction, of which the president was the chief secretary 
for Ireland. The vice-president is a paid official, and the first person 
to fill the post was Mr. (since Sir) Horace Plunkett, to whom Irish 
agriculture and Irish technical education owe so much. There is a 
general council of agriculture and two advisory boards, one of which 
is for technical education, while for coordinating educational admin- 
istration there is a small consultative committee, consisting of the 
vice-president and one representative each from the technical, agri- 
cultural, national, and intermediate boards. The fall in science was 
shown by the fact that in 1891 there were 2,885 candidates in this sub- 
ject at the intermediate examinations. The number had decreased in 
1899 to 673, and in 1901 there were only 6 laboratories in the secondary 
schools. The recovery was equally rapid, thanks to the efforts of 



564 EDUCATION EEPORT, 1910. 

the new department. By the end of 1902, 101 permanent and 49 
provisional laboratories had been established, at a cost of £30,000, 
and summer courses were started on a large scale for teachers. In 
1901-2 no less than 6,412 candidates took the first year in physics. 
The intermediate board always lend a helping hand to managers by 
making loans to enable them to provide proper equipment. These 
loans in 1904 had already amounted to over £16,000, and in and 
after 1905 science was for some years made compulsory, with cer- 
tain reservations, on all students save those taking the classical 
course. 

In 1904 Mr. Dale, who had already reported on elementary educa- 
tion, was commissioned, in conjunction with Mr. Stephens, another 
inspector of the English board of education, to report on the system 
of intermediate and technical education in Ireland — "the latter so 
far as it is connected with the former" — and "to ascertain whether 
any organic or other changes in that system are desirable." They 
were specially to deal with coordination of intermediate with all 
forms of education, primary, technical, and university; with the 
staffing, equipment, and sanitation of intermediate schools; with the 
methods of allocating the funds of the board and the possibility of 
making grants to selected schools; and with the possibility of estab- 
lishing a profession of intermediate teachers. As regards the lack 
of coordination they pointed out the undue overlapping betw^een 
primary and intermediate schools, the deficiency in scholarships or 
other means of helping on the poorer children to higher education, 
except in the case of the Christian Brothers and one or two other 
bodies, and the shortage especially in the north of Ireland of inter- 
mediate schools. This want of coordination they attributed to the 
absence of any central department to survey the two systems as a 
whole. They advocated the creation of scholarships tenable at inter- 
mediate schools for elementary and other children and mentioned 
with approval the scholarships given by eight counties under the agri- 
cultural and technical department. They also praised the department 
for the work it had carried out in cooperation with the intermedi- 
ate board in erecting laboratories and reforming the teaching of 
experimental science. The connection of the universities with 
intermediate education was described as very imperfect. As a 
remedy for the lack of coordination, they suggested a school-leaving 
certificate with a consultative committee. The premises and equip- 
ment of the schools with over 65 boys and 52 girls w^ere reported as 
satisfactory, but this was not the case with two-thirds of the smaller 
schools. They found 55.3 per cent of the men and 30 per cent of the 
women in Protestant schools had degrees, while the majority of the Cath- 
olic teachers were in orders and had been trained at Maynooth or some 
Catholic institution of university rank. They noted the lowness of the 



EDUCATION IN lEELAND. 565 

salaras of assistants, the average in 70 boys' schools being £82 6s. 7d. 
and in 47 girls' schools, £48 2s. 7d. They commented on the excessive 
cost of administration and examination, which, however, was swollen 
in the year under review by the cost of the temporary inspection. It 
amounted to nearly £15,000, out of a total income of about £85,000. 
They asserted that a permanent inspectorate would not be a satis- 
factory remedy for current defects, unless more effective control, 
which legally seemed doubtful, could be exercised by the board over 
the schools, and the extent and cost of the examination were lessened 
at the same time; They recommended, therefore, an amendment 
of the acts, coupled with a block grant, an internal examination of 
each recognized school under the general supervision of the inspectors, 
and external examinations for the leaving certificates conducted by 
the central authority. They noted the absence of registration and 
proposed that teachers should avail themselves of the British reg- 
ister (since defunct), pointed out existing institutes for training in 
Ireland, and suggested that salaries would best be raised by the adop- 
tion of registration and inspection. 

The abortive attempt has already been described which was made 
in 1907 to carry into effect by parliamentary enactment the admin- 
istrative reforms outlined by the report of Mr. Dale for primary 
education as well as those contained in the above report. It will 
be remembered that under this Irish council bill it was proposed to 
dissolve the intermediate board and the commissioners of national 
education and hand over primary and secondary education to an 
educational department or committee under the control and organi- 
zation of the council. The bill was withdrawn, and since then no 
further effort has been made to coordinate Irish education or create 
local educational authorities. Next year the board at last received 
permission to appoint six permanent inspectors, who were appointed 
in the following year. The result of the experiment will naturally be 
awaited with great intereft. Obviously, if inspection can be found 
to replace partially the examination, the worst tendencies of the 
system of payment by results will be neutralized, such as the tempta- 
tion to neglect the weaker children and voluntary subjects not con- 
tained in the examination courses. The adoption of the two leaving 
certificates as advocated by Messi-s. Dale and Stephens and correspond- 
ing to the system already obtaining in Scotland seems a more or less 
possible step. The elimination of the weaker teachers by means of 
registration would probably enable, as Messrs. Dale and Stephens 
have suggested, the better teachers to command better salaries. 
Such is in fact already the case with the teachers of science who are 
registered by the technical department. It is curious to find that 
the course of Latin and modern languages, as noted by Doctor 
Starkie, is still lacking in the list of courses; yet its utility has fully 



566 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

been proved in France and by the curriculum of the Real Gymnasium 
in Germany. 

A few statistics may be added here to show how fully, except 
for the condominium in science teaching that it shares with the 
department of agriculture and technical instruction, the interme- 
diate board has become the authority for secondary education. 
In 1903, 262 schools, with a school population of 12,135 boys and 
7,322 girls, were receiving grants from the board, while in 1901 (the 
latest census figures available) there were in the 475 so-called superior 
schools (excluding certain colleges and elementary schools) 26,760 
pupils (15,307 boys and 11,453 girls). In 1900, 6,093 boys and 
2,194 girls entered for the examination, or 8,287 in all. In 1908 
the numbers had risen to 8,283 boys and 3,906 girls, or 12,159 in all. 
The numbers who passed in 1900 and 1903 were 5,314 and 6,972, 
respectively, being 59.9 per cent of the boys and 63.9 per cent of the 
girls, or 61.2 per cent of the whole number. The total school grant 
was just under £50,000. The board's income amounted to about 
£86,000. 

One word of caiition is perhaps necessary to anyone seeking to 
appraise the work of the intermediate board. The inevitable ten- 
dency of all critics, especially among a critically minded people, and 
of all commissions of inquiry, is to insist on the unsatisfactory rather 
than on the satisfactory side — on what remains to be carried out rather 
than on what is already accomphshed. It may therefore be advis- 
able to point out that when all has been said and done, the interme- 
diate t)oard in its thirty-odd years of existence may safely be credited 
with two important services which must together outweigh the sum 
total of all its defects, real or imaginary. It has practically, if not 
actually, called into being Catholic secondary education (compare 
statistics of 1878), and it has given an immense impetus to the 
intermediate education of girls. 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

The role played by the science and art department in fostering 
these two subjects in Irish schools has been described elsewhere. 
As has already been stated, the money available under the local 
taxation act of 1890, amounting in the case of Ireland to a variable 
sum of about £128,000 a year, was handed over to the national and 
intermediate boards instead of being devoted to technical education, 
as in England and Scotland. The science and art department there- 
fore continued to give grants for the teaching of science and art under 
the regulations of that department. In 1887-88 the total amount was 
about £7,000, of which £4,577 odd was contributed by the local author- 
ities. Meanwhile a local, which later became a national, movement 
was springing up in the coimtry in favor of reviving and extending 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 567 

Irish agriculture and industries by means of education. A small 
committee was formed in Dublin to promote technical education 
in 1886. In 1887 the city of DubHn technical schools were opened. 
They were supported by voluntary contributions and a grant from 
the Dublin corporation imder the library acts. In 1889 the first 
technical education act apphcable to Ireland was passed, but Dubhn, 
Galway, and Cork were practically the only places to avail themselves 
of it. The movement received a vigorous impetus from the forma- 
tion of the recess committee, in 1896, composed of members of all 
parties, which advocated the formation of a department of agricul- 
ture and industries. This, as has already been described, was 
created in 1899. Salaries and office expenses are provided by annual 
parHamentary vote. The department was set up with an income 
of about £166,000 a year, of which £55,000 was reserved for tech- 
nical instruction; £78,000 of this money represented the local tax- 
ation grant of 1890 hitherto paid to the national board, who now 
received in its place a yearly equivalent sum by House of Commons 
vote. In 1908-9 the endowment fund had risen to £180,000, of 
which £72,000 was available for education. The board also received 
under the act of 1899 capital to the extent of about £205,000; this 
in 1909 had been augmented by the unexpended cash balances, etc., 
and amounted to £285,288. Against this, liabilities had been 
incurred amounting to about £104,000. The department also 
continued to receive a sum (about £7,000) in lieu of the equivalent 
grant, a compromise on the science and art grant. 

The agricultural side of the department's work touches education 
at many points. It maintains an agricultural faculty in the Royal 
College of Science and Art and the Albert Agricultural College, 
Glasnevin, which gives training in horticulture as well, the Mmi- 
ster Institute, and the Ulster Dairy School. The latter two 
are open only to women and give instruction in dairy work, feed- 
ing and management of cows, poultry keeping, agriculture, and 
domestic economy. Agriculture is further taught at the agricultural 
stations at Athenry, Ballyhaise, and Clonakilty. Agriculture and 
rural domestic economy are also taught at the "aided" agricultural 
college at Mount Bellew and at the nine schools of rural domestic 
economy, at Westport, Ramsgrange, Claremorris, etc. And finally 
there are the classes, lectures, and practical demonstrations carried 
on by the itinerant instructors in agriculture, horticulture, poultry 
keeping, and butter making throughout the country. Classes for 
training qualified teachers of agricultural subjects have also been 
established at the Royal College of Science, at the Albert College, 
and the Mimster Institute. These trained teachers in 1908-9 nmn- 
bered 123. The number of itinerant teachers numbered 128. Winter 
classes in agriculture were formed in 1908-9 in 20 counties. There 



568 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

were in all 50 classes, and 375 students were admitted. In 1901-2 
the agricultural board voted £3,000 for rural industries and technical 
instruction connected therewith. This in 1908-9 had grown to 
£9,000. Classes in lace and crochet making, basket making, and 
other rural industries are also financed by the agricultural board, 
at a cost in 1908-9 of £3,000. 

In 1908-9 the institutions maintained by the department under 
the annual parUamentary vote were the Royal College of Science, 
the National Museum of Science and Art, the Metropolitan School 
of Art, and the Royal Botanical Gardens. The cost of these insti- 
tutions in 1908-9 was £44,292. 

The board of technical instruction is a body composed of the 
president, the vice-president of the department, fifteen representa- 
tives of local authorities, one representative from the inter- 
mediate and national boards, respectively, and four persons nomi- 
nated by the department. 

The whole policy of the department is based on the principle of 
helping those who help themselves and the congested districts were 
expressly excluded from its purview in 1902, though it has loiter 
taken over some of the agricultural work of the congested district 
board. In accordance with this policy the department was prohib- 
ited from applying any of its funds (except in special cases) to 
schemes in respect of which aid was not given out of money pro- 
vided by local authorities or from other local sources. Every urban 
district council and every county council may raise a twopenny 
rate to be applied to technical institutions in towns and to technical 
instruction and the fostering of agriculture and rural industries in 
the coimtry. They may also borrow money for building purposes. 

The local authorities formulate schemes for their districts which 
must be approved by the department. This has allowed of a cer- 
tain diversity between town and country'- districts, as well as per- 
mitting the erection of purely commercial schools in Rathmines and 
Cork in addition to the ordinary technical school in the latter city. 
The £55,000 income was divided into two parts; £25,000 was given 
to the six county boroughs (Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, London- 
derry, and Waterford), to be applied in aid of technical schemes 
approved by the department. This has scarcely varied at all (grant 
in 1909-10 being £26,000). The remaining £30,000 (£29,000 in 
1909-10) was expended by the department on technical instruction in 
urban and country districts, while £4,000 of it is set aside for central 
purposes (senior scholarships, teachers' classes, etc.). Grants amount- 
ing to three-fourths of the approved expenditure are made to spe- 
cial trade preparatory schools in Belfast, Portadown, Pembroke, Kil- 
kenny, and Queenstown. In 1902-3 27 coimty schemes and 24 urban 
schemes were more or less fully in operation, together VN-ith those of the 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 569 

6 county boroughs, and in 1903-4 the total raised by rates was esti- 
mated at £25,00,0, of which, roughly, half came from the counties 
and half from the county boroughs. This amount came to £29,- 
602 odd in 1908-9. Every county in Ireland contributed, and the 
total included over 70 urban and rural districts. It is interesting to 
note that in 1902 it was estimated a Id. rate all over Ireland would 
produce a little under £60,000. 

In 1906 a committee of inquiry was appointed to inquire into the 
working of the department. The report on the whole was favorable 
to the department. 

The last report, 1908-9, speaks of the work while still extending, 
having entered on a phase of consolidation. The rapid development 
of technical education is attributed to the substitution of inspection 
for examination and the facilities afforded by the department for the 
training of teachers. The new regulations for technical schools, 
with their increased grants and demand for higher standard of 
efficiency, are stated to have been very beneficial. The cooperation 
of employers has been increasingly secured. The schools of com- 
merce are flourishing, but the question of suitable buildings is a 
serious one. Hygiene and home nursing have been added during 
the last two 3^ears to the domestic economy in rural districts. 

In the secondary schools the teaching of the department's pro- 
gramme is maintained efficiently and harmoniously. Domestic 
economy as a subject is growing in girls' schools. The summer 
courses for teachers were attended by 622 teacher-students, and 523 
received certificates; 113 national teachers presented themselves for 
examination in elementary experimental science and 67 received' 
certfficates. A large number of scholarships to the intermediate, 
trade, domestic economy schools, and to the Royal College of Science 
and to the Metropolitan School of Art were awarded, as well as 
certain local exhibitions. One of the most promising developments 
of the department is the encouragement offered during the last three 
years under its revised regulations to technical schools in technology, 
handicraft, commerce, applied science, and art. Other interesting 
departures are the two schools it has established, one for training in 
domestic economy and one for instructors and domestic servants. 
The amount allocated for the session 1907-8 to technical schools was 
£15,805, while the secondary schools for experimental science, drawing, 
manual mstruction, and domestic economy received £26,725, and the 
primary schools for drawing and manual instruction £ 1 ,81 9. In 1 908-9 
the grant to the teclinical schools was £18,952. In the forthcoming 
year it will be probably over £22,000. These moneys are derived from 
the science and art grant, which in 1897-98 had sunk to £2,613, but 
has since been rapidly growing, especially in recent years. In 1906-7 
it amounted to £26,400. It was £37,550 in 1907-8, and in 1908-9 it 
had risen to £43,600. 



570 education report^ 1910. 

University. 

The early beginnings of Irish university and secondary education 
have ah-eady been described (see secondary section). The total 
destruction of higher education commenced, as we have seen, by the 
repeated inroads of the Danes, and, completed by the long drawnout 
struggle of the Anglo-Norman conquest, left a blank which was not 
filled up till the foundation of Trinity College in 1591. It is true that 
Archbishop Leek attempted to found a university in Dublin in 1311, 
and an act of Parliament was passed in 1465 for establishing a univer- 
sity at Drogheda, while Pope Sixtus IV issued a bull for founding a 
university in Dublin in 1475. But these attempts bore little fruit, and 
the Dublin University, such as it was, perished at the time of the 
confiscation of the monasteries. 

Trinity College was founded by charter by Queen Elizabeth. It 
was built on the site of the old suppressed Augustinian monastery 
of All Hallows near Dublin and was opened to students in 1593. The 
college was described in the charter as ''Unum Collegium Mater 
Universitatis," but no other college has ever been established, so that 
the university and the college became practically identical. It is a 
moot point whether it was originally intended for the whole popula- 
tion or only for a denominational section, but as tilings turned out 
it was exclusively Protestant for two hundred years, except during a 
brief period in the reign of James II, who appointed a Catholic as 
provost. 

The college was admittedly founded in imitation of Oxford and 
.Cambridge, and, as a matter of fact, the first four provosts were 
Cambridge men. 

Certain confiscated lands in the north and £2,000 collected in 
money formed the first endowment. 

The government consisted of the provost and the fellows (later of 
the senior fellows only). In 1615 James I gave the college the right 
to return two members to Parliament. In 1637 Charles I granted 
a new charter, resuming for the crown the right of making statutes. 
The statutes then issued, with certain modifications, lasted till the 
times of modern reform. 

The first provision for medical education was made outside Trinity 
in 1667, when a charter of incorporation was granted to the Royal 
College of Physicians. It was incorporated under the title of the 
King's and Queen's College in 1692. Under legislation in 1741 and 
later, four King's professors of medicine in Trinity were created; their 
election, however, was placed in the hands of the Royal College of 
Physicians. There were also faculties of law and medicine, and in 
1776 two royal chairs of modern languages were founded. In 1641 
the first school of engineering in the Kingdom was established at 
Trinity. 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 571 

Up to 1794 the university was closed to Catholics and Dissenters, 
though the presence of a few was tolerated. After that date the 
university was thrown open to both. They were not, however, 
allowed to hold office in the university. 

There was an outburst of educational activity during the last two 
decades of the eighteenth century. The Royal College of Surgeons was 
incorporated in 1784 and opened as a licensing and teaching institu- 
tion. The astronomical observatory at Dunsink, created in 1785, 
was placed in 1791 under the care of the royal astronomer of Ireland. 
The Apothecaries' Hall was incorporated in 1791 and the Royal 
Irish Academy in 1786. Barristers are admitted by the King's Inns 
in concurrence with the law school of Trinity College, a scheme that 
according to the commission of 1906-7 has worked well. 

In 1795, owing to the destruction of the ecclesiastical colleges in 
France, the Irish Parliament passed an act appointing trustees for 
endowing an academy for Catholics only and giving an annual grant 
of £8,000. This was the origin of the celebrated College of Maynooth. 
A lay college was attached to it in 1800 for boys over 14, but it was 
discontinued in 1817. Its failure is attributed by Doctor Starkie 
to the fact that it had no "root fibers in a system of primary and 
secondary schools." Maynooth was incorporated in 1845, when the 
annual grant was raised to £26,360 and provision was made for 520 
students, a sum of £30,000 being given for building. On the dis- 
establishment of the Irish church Maynooth received a lump sum of 
£369,040 in lieu of the annual grant. 

The Presbyterians received, about the same time as the foundation 
of Maynooth, a grant for the education of their ministers. In 1814 
they opened the Belfast Academical Institute, which later became the 
General Assembly's Theological College at Belfast. Their grant, 
which was £1,500 in 1828, was £2,500 in 1849, and at the disestab- 
lishment it was commuted to £43,976, and £15,000 was given for 
buildings. 

In 1845 Sir Robert Peel passed an act providing^ for the establish- 
ment of three Queen's colleges ''in order to supply the want which 
had long been felt in Ireland for an improved academical education, 
equally accessible to all classes of the community without religious 
distinction." The scheme itself goes back to the report of the select 
committee of 1838, and was really due to its indefatigable chair- 
man, Mr. Wyse, the moving spirit in all educational reform, whether 
elementary or secondary, during the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
tury; £100,000 was granted for sites and buildings at Belfast, Cork, 
and Galway, and each college received £7,000 a year. The colleges 
were strictly undenominational. Three faculties were established 
in each, arts, law, and physics. They were opened in 1849, and in 
1850 the Queen's University was founded to act as an examining 



572 EDUCATION REPORT^ 1910. 

university for degree students from these colleges. The latter 
opened in 1849 with 223 matriculated students, 63 being Established 
Church Protestants, 80 Catholics, and 80 Presbyterians and Dis- 
senters. It was provided by the act that the visitors of the colleges 
should represent the several religious persuasions, but the Roman 
Catholic ecclesiasts refused to serve. Next year, at a plenary synod 
of the Catholic hierarchy held at Thurles, the new Queen's colleges 
were definitely condemned and it was resolved to found a Catholic 
university in Ireland at the suggestion of the Pope. 

A royal commission on Trinity College was appointed in 1851 
which reported that the income amounted to £62,000, while fees in 
1850 brought in over £3,000. There were 1,217 undergraduates on 
the books. The commissioners found the general state of the uni- 
versity satisfactory. Certain internal reforms were proposed, many 
of which were adopted in 1857. 

Meanwhile the proposals of the Thurles synod were realized in 
1854 by the foundation of a "Catholic University of Ireland," 
modeled on the University of Louvain. The first rector was 
Doctor Newman, afterwards Cardinal Newman. Between 1851-1865, 
£125,000 was collected and an additional £59,000 by 1874. The 
fees were almost nominal, salaries came to £5,000 out of a total 
annual cost of £6,000. In 1879 the funds were nearly exhausted. 
The refusal of a charter in the opening years seems to have seriously 
hampered its development. 

In 1865 a Mrs. Magee left £20,000 to found and endow a college 
for Presbyterian ministers, called Magee College, at Londonderry. 
While primarily a theological college, it has also an arts side attached. 
In 1866 Alexandra College was founded for the higher education of 
women, and a residence house opened, and in 1870 the University of 
Dublin held its first examination for women. 

In 1867 the government of the day removed the religious dis- 
abilities attached to the holding of certain chairs in Dublin Uni- 
versity, and in 1373 all tests were abolished except for the divinity 
professors and lecturers. Early in 1873 Mr. Gladstone brought in 
a bill to solve the Irish university difficulty. He described the Uni- 
versity of Dublin as being in servitude to a single college. "It 
means servitude to eight gentlemen who elect the other fellows, who 
elect also themselves, and who govern both the university and the 
college." He proposed a new Irish national university composed of 
Trinity, the Catholic University, Magee College, and the Queen's col- 
leges of Belfast and Cork. The theological faculty in Trinity was to be 
handed over to the representative body of the disestablished church. 
The new university was to take no cognizance of metaphysical or 
moral philosophy or modern history. Both Protestants and 
Catholics disliked the proposals, the latter because it offered only 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 573 

recognition without endowment to the Cathohc University, and the 
measure was lost by three votes on the second reading. 

In 1879 the Queen's University was replaced by the Royal Uni- 
versity of Ireland. In 1883 the annual grant rose from £5,000 to 
£20,000 a year, the university receiving for the first time its full 
income from the funds of the disestablished church. The new charter, 
issued in 1880, g^ve power to confer degrees in all faculties except 
theology. No residence or attendance at lectures (except for medical 
students) was required. The religious difficulty was thus shelved 
and Catholics readily availed themselves of the examination and 
accepted office in the new university. In debatable subjects like 
philosophy, alternative sets of questions were set by examiners 
chosen respectively from Catholics and Protestants. 

The corporation consisted of a chancellor, senate, and graduates. 
Twenty-nine arts and eight medical fellowships were created, as 
well as scholarships and prizes. By a tacit understanding half of 
these fellowships were given to the Queen's colleges, with the excep- 
tion of one, which was assigned to Magee College, the remaining half 
being given to the University College, Stephens Green, which took 
over the buildings of the former Catholic University, the new Catholic 
University consisting henceforth of the above college, together with 
Maynooth, Blackrock, Carlow, Clonliffe, and the Catholic Medical 
School. 

In 1882 the classes and scholarships in the Queen's colleges were 
thrown open to women, while as regards the Royal University 
women were from the first placed on an equality with men. The 
attendances at the Queen's colleges fluctuated considerably. Their 
maximum numbers were reached in the early eighties. Thus at 
Belfast in 1881-82 there were 567 students, of whom 353 were Pres- 
byterians and 25 Catholics. These in 1899-1900 had sunk to 347, of 
whom 247 were Presbyterians. Cork had 402 in 1881-82 (with 221 
Catholics). In 1900-1901 it had only 171 (98 Catholics). Galway 
had 208 (87 Catholics) in 1881-82. In 1898-99 there were only 83 
(of whom 28 were Catholics). Many of the above students were 
exhibitioners and scholars. Thus at Galway in 1900-1901 they 
numbered 56 out of 84 matriculated students. 

The Queen's University had 302 candidates for examination in 
1870 and 748 in 1880. The Royal examined 2,364 candidates in 
1884 and 2,658 in 1900. In 1896-97 the Catholic college, Stephens 
Green, Dublin, with only 130 pupils obtained 49 first-class distinctions 
in the examinations, as against 33 for all the Queen's colleges. The 
number of degrees taken by women was 9 in 1884 and 65 in 1900. 
In 1901 the number of students at Maynooth was 504, at Magee 70, and 
at the General Assembly's Theological College 46. 



574 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

Trinity College is partly a residential and partly an examining 
university. It was stated that in 1891 less than 20 per cent of the 
students obtained degrees by examination only. The largest num- 
ber on its books during the last century was 1,338 in 1881; of these 
115 were Roman Catholics. In 1894 there were only 1,063, and in 
1901 the numbers had sunk to 976. It is estimated of 1,200 students 
who matriculated between 1891 and 1895 only 6 per cent were 
Catholics. 

The Catholic position was excellently put by Archbishop Walsh 
in 1890: "To all Cathohcs it comes as a fixed principle that every 
institution such as Trinity College, embodying what is known as 
the 'mixed system' is from the nature of that system a source of 
danger to Catholic students if they frequent it; a source of danger 
to the vigor and even the integrity of their faith; a source of danger 
also to their constancy in the full and faithful observances of the 
practical duties by which they are bound as Catholics." 

In July, 1901, a royal commission was appointed "to inquire into 
the present position of higher general and technical education in Ire- 
land, outside of Trinity College, and to report as to what reforms, if 
necessary, are desirable in order to render that education adequate 
to the needs of the Irish people." The final report was signed by 11 
out of the 12 commissioners, with sundry reservations. The com- 
missioners considered that the present arrangement by which 
degrees of the Royal University were obtainable by examination 
alone had lowered the ideal of university life and education in Ire- 
land and should be abolished. It insisted that the Royal Uni- 
versity should be converted into a teaching university, in which 
attendance at lectures should be indispensable for degrees. The 
Queen's colleges should be the constituent colleges of the university, 
together with a fourth. Catholic, college in Dublin. Belfast should 
be liberally endowed and equipped, but Cork and Galway were 
rather to be reduced. 

In December, 1903, Trinity College was thrown open to women, 
and those who had taken the necessary examinations elsewhere 
were also admitted to degrees "ad eundum." This latter privilege 
was only continued till the end of 1907, but no less than 800 women, 
mainly from Oxford and Cambridge, availed themselves of it, and 
the fees thus received, some £16,000, were set aside by the college 
for the promotion of women's education. 

Statistics issued by the three Queen's colleges in 1907 showed a 
steady recovery from the low figures of 1900-1901. Thus in 1907 
Belfast had 390 students. Its teaching staff had also been much 
strengthened, and numbered 40, as against 20 in 1887, and 8 new 
laboratories had been added. Galway reported 111 students and 
Cork 265, of whom 179 were Roman Catholics. The principal of 



EDUCATION IN IRELAND. 575 

the latter also renewed the claims of Cork to be made a separate 
university for Munster, and referred to the offer of £50,000 under 
certain conditions from Mr. W. O'Brien and his wife. 

Meanwhile, the report of the commission of 1903, though its gen- 
eral conclusion of a federal university proved inacceptable, made 
the solution of the university question seem more pressing than 
ever. In March, 1906, the Government announced its intention to 
appoint a royal commission on Trinity College. According to the 
Irish secretary, Mr. James Bryce, it was to "deal with the revenues 
of the college, with its government and administration, with the 
teaching staff, with the system of examinations and rewards. A 
general consideration of the place Trinity College ought to occupy in 
the higher education of Ireland, so that it might become more useful 
to the people of Ireland at large than perhaps it was at the moment, 
could not be excluded." The terms of reference bore out the Irish 
secretary's prognostications, and the fuU title of the commission 
appointed in June, 1906, was Royal Commission on Trinity College, 
Dublin, and the University of Dublin. The commission was further 
empowered to take cognizance of the reports and evidence received 
by the commission of 1901. 

The commission issued its final report in 1907. The commis- 
sioners reported that Trinity College was a satisfactory organ for 
Protestant Episcopalian education, but not for Roman Catholic. 
Four commissioners were in favor of a fedepal university, composed 
of Trinity, a suitable Catholic college in Dublin, and the three 
Queen's colleges. Another favored the solution, but doubted its 
success from the hostility of the colleges concerned. Three com- 
missioners favored a reconstitution of the Royal as a teaching uni- 
versity, composed of the three Queen's colleges and a new Catholic 
college in Dublin, and one, the representative of Trinity and a 
Catholic, was against the creation of any new coUege. Thus, while 
the commission was practically equally divided on the question of 
remodeling Dublin University or not, an overwhelming majority 
was in favor of the creation of a new college in Dublin acceptable 
to Catholics. No changes in the constitution of Trinity could be 
recommended which would make it acceptable to Catholics, but 
intercollegiate cooperation was recommended between Trinity and 
the new proposed college, and the offer made by Trinity of special 
arrangements for Catholics, Presbyterians, and Methodists was to be 
included in the new statutes. 

It was recommended that the governing body of Trinity should be 
remodeled. The existing governing body was to furnish one-fourth 
the members, half were to be elected by the fellows and professors from 
among the fellows, and a fourth from the professors who were not fel- 
lows. In place of the council there was to be an academic council 



576 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

and boards of studies. Hitherto the fellows had been elected by 
examination, which involved, as a rule, much laborious work for sev- 
eral years after full graduation. As a permissible alternative the 
commisisoners recommended the presentation of a thesis or other 
original work. It was reported that the cooperation between the Law 
School and the King's Inns had been advantageous. More encourage- 
ment was to be given to Irish and the prosecution of research work. 
The office of lady registrar should be made permanent. The right 
of recognizing lady teachers in any college for women within the 
30-mile radius was to be granted to the college. 

On March 31, 1908, Mr. Birrell, who had succeeded Mr. Bryce as 
Irish secretary, introduced a bill giving force to many of these 
recommendations. Trinity College was left alone. Two new uni- 
versities were to be founded, one at Belfast, the other to comprise 
Cork and Galway, with a new college in Dublin. The Royal Uni- 
versity was to be dissolved. There were to be no religious tests for 
professors, lecturers, fellows, or students, no state endowment of 
theology or for building or maintaining places of worship, the latter 
to be provided, if desired, by private enterprise. The universities 
were to be governed by senates, nominated at first provisionally for 
a term of years, but hereafter to be elected for the most part aca- 
demically. Women were to be represented upon them. The uni- 
versities were to have the power of admitting to their examinations 
and degrees the matriculated students of any ''recognized" college. 
This, as it afterwards appeared, was meant to refer to Magee and 
Maynooth. No external students were to be admitted to examina- 
tions. This latter condition was not to the liking of the national 
teachers, who saw that they would largely be cut off from taking 
degrees in the new university. 

The bill passed the second reading by an overwhelming majority 
and was ''warmly supported" by the Nationalist members, most of 
the criticism it received in Pariiament coming from the Protestant 
members for Ulster. 

The third reading was passed on July 27, and the bill received 
royal assent. 

In summing up the main features of the measure the Journal of 
Education says: 

"To an outsider situated between the two opposing camps of 
Irish religious and political beliefs the measure seems to be about as 
colorless as it is possible to make it. The absence of religious tests, 
the exclusion of the clergy from ex officio representation on the gov- 
erning bodies, the fact that provision for theological teaching is left 
wholly to private endowment, would seem to be the only safeguards 
against denominational or clerical occupation which lie w^ithin the 
power of anticipatory legislation * * *. If the people either of 
the north or of the south choose to make their university denomina- 



EDUCATION liST IRELAND. 577 

tional, denominational it will be, in spite of all the acts of Parliament 
in the world." 

By the financial clauses of the act Galway was allotted an annual 
grant of £12,000, Cork of £20,000, Dublin £32,000, and Belfast 
£18,000. The original endowment of the Royal was divided between 
the two universities, whose total income (colleges included) was thus 
£85,000, against £35,000 before the act; £00,000 was given for 
building to Belfast and £170,000 to Dublin. By letters patent 
issued December 2, 1908, the new university in Dublin received the 
title of National University of Ireland, and Queen's College, Belfast, 
was rechristened Queen's University, Belfast. New statutes were 
issued on May 24, 1909, for the two universities and the constituent 
colleges. In the National University the senate elects the vice- 
chancellor and appoints and dismisses all professoi-s, lecturers, etc. 
In academic matters it is assisted by boards of studies. Convoca- 
tion which elects the chancellor comprises the officers and senate of 
the imiversity and all graduates, including those of the Royal who 
pay a fee. Women are eligible. There are eight faculties: Arts, 
philosophy and sociology, Celtic studies, science, law, medicine, 
engineering and architecture, and commerce. Agriculture is included 
under science and Irish under arts. There are diplomas in agricul- 
ture, journalism, hygiene, etc. The senate may recognize colleges 
of a university type, provided no secondary education is given in 
them. 

At Belfast, in addition to the senate, there is an academic council 
to control internal affairs and a general board of studies. The stu- 
dents have a council to represent their interests. Convocation is 
open to all graduates, including women. There are four faculties: 
Arts, science (including engineering and architecture), law, and 
medicine. ^Scholastic philosophy is included under arts. This has 
already been attacked in the House of Commons and before the 
privy council as violating the undenominational character of the 
university, but the petition against its inclusion was dismissed by 
the privy council in October, 1909. The matter has been revived 
and a final settlement has evidently not 3^et been reached. 

Shorty after the passing of the act a strong agitation sprang up 
with a view of making Irish compulsory for entrance in the National 
University. Early in 1909 the Episcopal standing committee of the 
Irish hierarchy issued a statement deprecating compulsory Gaelic 
as proving not only a hindrance to the language movement but as 
likely also to drive away students. The Irish Nation declared, on 
the other hand, that the issue was between a substitute for Oxford 
and Cambridge and a democratic and national university. The Gaelic 
League naturally took a very prominent part, as well as many of 
the urban and district councils and the county councils, and in June, 
59041°— ED 1910— VOL 1 37 



578 EDUCATIOIS^ EEPOET^ 1910. 

1909, their demands were indorsed by the general council of the Irish 
county councils. By October 1, 130 urban and district councils and 
23 county councils had pronounced in favor of compulsor}^ Irish. 
Many of tlie councils threatened to refuse to strike a rate in support 
of university education if their demands were not complied with. 

j^.Icanwhile, in July, 1909, Magee College, which it was expected 
would apply for recognition to Belfast, decided to accept affiliation 
with Trinity College. On November 1 the new universities came 
into official existence. The fees at the National University were fixed 
at £10 a year for- arts, £12 for engineering, and £14 for science and 
medicine. On February 23, 1910, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, 
was admitted to recognition by the senate of the National Univer- 
sity. In the early part of the same year the question of the recogni- 
tion of the women's colleges also came to the front. But the petition 
of Alexandra College to Trinity College for recognition of certain of 
its lectures for university purposes was rejected. A similar request 
from certain of the women's colleges to the new University College, 
Dublin, was likewise refused. On the other hand, no provision has 
been made in the new Dublin College for technological subjects; it 
seems not improbable that the Royal College of Science will ulti- 
mately be recognized for such courses. 

On April 6 Mr. Birrell stated in the House of Commons that the 
number of students in the new University College, Dublin, was 445 
(including 39 women). 

The agitation in favor of compulsory Irish at the National Univer- 
sity continued with unabated vigor through the first six months of 

1910. On May 5 the senate decided to make a course in Irish com- 
pulsory for those who did not take it at matriculation. This solu- 
tion proved unacceptable to public opinion, and after a "long sus- 
pense," to use Archbishop Walsh's words, the senate finally decided 
to make Irish compulsory in and after 1913. The decision thus 
arrived at will insure from the county council alone, an income of 
£8,000 to £9,000 a year. The adoption of compulsory Irish means 
that the new university is assured of aid from the county 
councils alone of something between £8,000 and £9,000 a year. 
The final decision was arrived at at the end of June, and Arch- 
bishop Walsh attributed the long delay in part to the federal 
nature of the university, which, owing to the distances separating 
the different colleges, makes the work cumbrous and costly. It seems 
quite possible that Cork, as Doctor Windle, its president, has lately 
predicted, may retire from the Federal University and become an 
independent university for Munster. It has quite recently received 
a sum of £10,000, and the offer of Mr. W. O'Brien of £50,000 is 
always available. If this happens the National University will be 
only follovv^ing in the footsteps of the Victoria University in England, 
whose three former members, Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds, 
are to-day all independent universities. 



